UP real estate authority forms Greater Noida bench to hear disputes

Projects totaling over 250,000 housing units stuck in UP, particularly in the NCR

The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UPRERA) has decided to set up an exclusive bench in Greater Noida to hear housing and realty sector cases.

The Greater Noida bench will hear cases pertaining to Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater Noida and Noida), Yamuna Expressway Authority, Ghaziabad and Meerut, all in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Estimates suggest realty projects to the tune of Rs 400 billion and totaling 250,000 housing units are stuck at various stages in Uttar Pradesh, particularly in the NCR region, as builders struggle to complete projects and meet timelines due to overcapacity and financial crunch.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government has appointed former UP Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar as the first full-time RERA chairperson to boost the state’s housing sector regulator. 

The state has also appointed Kalpana Mishra, Bhanu Pratap Singh and Balvinder Kumar as UPRERA members. Singh is a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, while Balvinder Kumar is a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. Mishra served in the judiciary before retirement.

The state government had been dragging its feet in constituting UPRERA with full-time members even as it was pulled up by the Allahabad High Court over the inordinate delay.

This week, UPRERA held its first meeting, which decided to hold hearings simultaneously in Lucknow and Greater Noida to clear the backlog of cases. 

In the absence of a fully working body, the development authorities of Noida and Greater Noida had been hearing complaints and passing judgments. 

Now, UPRERA has ordered, judgments passed by them will be kept in abeyance and status quo maintained until the watchdog hears all cases afresh.

According to sources, UPRERA has about 300 pending cases, of which 75-80% pertain to Noida and Greater Noida, which have emerged as a virtual template of the Indian domestic real estate woes.

Venkat Rao, a real estate consultant and an advisor to global realty services firm Currie & Brown, said UPRERA faced a big task given the enormity of the problem in these regions.

“Over the years, there had been substantial overcapacity buildup in the NCR, primarily owing to the easy land allotment policies and over the projection of demand,” he said.

UPRERA will hold separate meetings with the homebuyers and complainants, apart from builders this week to prepare a blueprint for the early resolution of issues.

Enacted by Parliament two years ago, the RERA Act 2016 is meant to protect homebuyers and help boost investments in real estate sector.

It mandates developers to post all information such as project plan, layout, approvals, land title status, sub-contractors to the project and completion schedule with the state RERA and then pass this information to consumers. 

The maximum jail term for a developer violating the order of the appellate tribunal of the RERA is three years with or without a fine. Every project measuring more than 500 square meters or more than eight apartments have to be registered with RERA.